topic Re: Most effective method to dispute a 100 dollar collection from the state of Ohio for child suppor in General Credit Topics

Most effective method to dispute a 100 dollar collection from the state of Ohio for child support?

Anonymous — Sat, 12 Oct 2019 16:56:45 GMT

I think this is 100% ridiculous. My monthly child support obligation is literally 100 dollars. The first month the billing statement went to a different address so I was a month late paying the first payment. Paid on time every single month. Six months in OHIO dept of human services literally puts a collection account on my Equifax. Instant 60 point drop on my report. I've noticed they say on there that I was 120 days late as the worse delinquincy. Which is one million percent incorrect. Easily proved on my end.

They are not a creditor which I think is obsurd for them to put a collection account on a CONSUMER credit report.

What is my best method without contacting an attorney to dispute and get removed? I'm literally ready to purchase a home and this is holding me back. Equifax is 682 with this on there now. It's gonna cost me huge on interest for that score drop the bank said.

Thanks

Re: Most effective method to dispute a 100 dollar collection from the state of Ohio for child suppor

Brian_Earl_Spilner — Sat, 12 Oct 2019 17:44:33 GMT

They already said they wouldn't remove it?

Re: Most effective method to dispute a 100 dollar collection from the state of Ohio for child suppor

Anonymous — Tue, 15 Oct 2019 02:28:47 GMT

Correct. Already contacted them and they said there’s nothing they can do.

Re: Most effective method to dispute a 100 dollar collection from the state of Ohio for child suppor

Remedios — Tue, 15 Oct 2019 13:22:00 GMT

Hi and welcome to the forums

If you already contacted them, dispute with CRA via certified mail. Send copies showing all your payments and any other supporting evidence if you're certain reporting is wrong.
If EQ does not correct it, next step would be complaint to CFPB.

Re: Most effective method to dispute a 100 dollar collection from the state of Ohio for child suppor

Anonymous — Tue, 15 Oct 2019 15:28:16 GMT

So are you disputing the presence/validity of the collection itself, or the fact that it references being 120 days late when you were in fact only 30 days late (I believe)? It's extremely rare for a 30 day late payment to go right to a collection, so that seems a bit off. If it were in fact 120+ days late that would make more sense. If you talk to whoever you make the $100/mo payment to, on their end do they have you as 30 days late or 120 days late?

Re: Most effective method to dispute a 100 dollar collection from the state of Ohio for child suppor

Remedios — Tue, 15 Oct 2019 18:01:26 GMT

OP, if you never caught up, the reporting is correct.
When you paid that $100.00 that was late, another payment would have been already due.
If you're lagging one payment behind, that means you've been late this whole time.
If you caught up immediately, that's a grounds for dispute on anything past that 30 day late.

Re: Most effective method to dispute a 100 dollar collection from the state of Ohio for child suppor

FlaDude — Tue, 15 Oct 2019 19:35:33 GMT

@Remedios wrote:
OP, if you never caught up, the reporting is correct.
When you paid that $100.00 that was late, another payment would have been already due.
If you're lagging one payment behind, that means you've been late this whole time.
If you caught up immediately, that's a grounds for dispute on anything past that 30 day late.

Wouldn't that be a series of 30 day lates rather than a 120? Hopefully moot if the OP caught up in month 2, but that's a little unclear.

Re: Most effective method to dispute a 100 dollar collection from the state of Ohio for child suppor

Remedios — Tue, 15 Oct 2019 21:04:44 GMT

That's what I'm trying to get at, if they are incorrectly reporting string of delinquencies by adding 30 days vs going with 30 days in every month.
I can see where it would appear that way, though.

Re: Most effective method to dispute a 100 dollar collection from the state of Ohio for child suppor

Anonymous — Wed, 16 Oct 2019 01:46:00 GMT

I would think that if someone is late on a payment, the next payment they made would be applied to the outstanding balance owed first... basically taking care of the late payment but then resulting in now being 30 days late again on the following payment. I would therefore think of the account as being perpetually 30 days late until the time an extra payment is made. But, that's just my train of thought and I don't know if this particular lender or any lender handles it that way.

Re: Most effective method to dispute a 100 dollar collection from the state of Ohio for child suppor

Anonymous — Wed, 16 Oct 2019 19:27:41 GMT

I get that train of thought. But I think in this case, and probably most, the account will continue to accumulate lates until it is brought current.

So month one $100 was owed and not paid, from that due date the days start counting as late. Month two $200 was owed to get the account brought back to current, but only $100 was paid so it's now 30 days late. Month three again $200 owed and $100 paid, account hasn't been current now for 60 days. And so on...

I guess one other thing might be how they view applying the payment (if they make a distinction about it at all). Let's say they missed Jan payment. It's now Feb, they owe for 2 months, send payment for 1 month. Does this get applied to Jan or Feb balance first? Depending on how payment was applied when Mar rolls around they could owe for Jan/Mar, or Feb/Mar. This would make a difference if it's seen as a series of 30 day lates, or a cumulative late.

Re: Most effective method to dispute a 100 dollar collection from the state of Ohio for child suppor

Anonymous — Fri, 18 Oct 2019 03:02:07 GMT

from what i understand any collection of 100.00 or less does not play any factor into your score or credit card companies decission. I could very well be wrong but thats what i got from research hope that helps

Re: Most effective method to dispute a 100 dollar collection from the state of Ohio for child suppor

Anonymous — Fri, 18 Oct 2019 18:56:01 GMT

My own experience is that a collection less than $100 can and will impact your score, potentially by a large amount.

I never paid attention to my credit until I went to buy a house. When lender checked my credit I found out I had a single collection for $54, only neg on my report. That's when I discovered myFICO and started learning and paying attention. The collection originated from my college bookstore and I questioned if it was legit, but for $54 I didn't care, just wanted it gone. Was able to do a PFD, mortgage scores went from 700-710 to 790-800. Huge difference!

Re: Most effective method to dispute a 100 dollar collection from the state of Ohio for child suppor

Remedios — Fri, 18 Oct 2019 22:55:26 GMT

Depends on scoring model and type of collections

Older scoring models are very punishing when it comes to any collection.

Fico 8 ignores collections under $100.00 for scoring purposes (lenders do not)

Fico 9 is less punishing when it comes to unpaid medical collections, and ignores all paid collections for scoring purposes. Again, most lenders do not ignore them.

Re: Most effective method to dispute a 100 dollar collection from the state of Ohio for child suppor

Anonymous — Mon, 21 Oct 2019 13:55:15 GMT

Thank you for all of the replies.

I disputed through Equifax.

I definitely was NEVER 120 days late, ever.

As original post stated, the first payment was late, instantly caught up, and paid every month on the due date, give or take couple of days.

My whole thing is and what makes the most aggravated is that it's child support. They're not a creditor. They didn't loan me money. It should not effect my CONSUMER credit score by almost 80 points. Especially when we're talking 100 dollars. I have over 25k in revolving credit lines and in 5 years only have one late payment.

Hopefully they will wipe it out because of the wrong info being reported.

Thanks again

Re: Most effective method to dispute a 100 dollar collection from the state of Ohio for child suppor

Anonymous — Sun, 03 Nov 2019 21:50:19 GMT

It was my understanding they were gonna stop reporting any debt you did not enter into without a contractual agreement. I think thats how someone explained it in another thread/post.

I think it was associated with the change in reporting judgments/PRs, done due to the same agreement. You will have to research it, I don't know whether child support is an exception.